Zettlex, the Newton based sensors company, has reported a record end to the year - helped by four large sales contracts in December with an added bonus of winning Best Product in the 2016 Best Business Awards.

The contracts are for the supply of sensors for bomb disposal robots, space rockets, oil exploration equipment and civil radar systems.

Zettlex has doubled production capacity in less than two years and is looking to expand further, creating more jobs during 2017 to cope with increasing demand from overseas markets. The Best Business Awards judging panel cited Zettlex as ‘a credit to British inventiveness’.

Dr Darran Kreit, Zettlex technical manager, said: “80% of our production is for export and it’s likely that this will increase further. We’re already exporting to 38 countries, but mostly North America and the Far East and so we don’t expect a major impact from Brexit. Our customers are more concerned with what our technology can do than fiddling about with trade tariffs.

“I’m really grateful to all our hard-working staff – nearly all of whom, including me, are from local villages – they are very much the key part in this British manufacturing success story.”

The company has previously received warm praise from Heidi Allen, MP for South Cambs as well as South Cambridgeshire District Council.

Cllr Peter Topping, Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “South Cambs is very much open for business and a great place to both live and work. Zettlex is an exceptional example of the kind of high-tech, high-growth, sustainable business that the Council wants to see thriving here. Their innovation is exceptional and a credit to the area and our highly skilled workforce.”